


Kitty's Collar - Reprised

by Nessa_T



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Jingle Friggin' Bell y'all, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 10:02:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5581495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nessa_T/pseuds/Nessa_T
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary: In which Dorian still has his bell, and wants Bull to ring it.</p><p>Companion piece to "Kitty's Collar" (Link Below)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kitty's Collar - Reprised

**Author's Note:**

  * For [floof](https://archiveofourown.org/users/floof/gifts), [LaviniaD](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaviniaD/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Kitty’s Collar](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5562181) by [Nessa_T](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nessa_T/pseuds/Nessa_T). 



Bull felt like he was being used. Just a little. Not that he minded, but it was becoming almost a nightly affair. Dorian had, once again, gotten himself pissed drunk at Skyhold’s tavern and demanded to be carried to his room. Of course, he had very specific instructions, written on a piece of paper no less, about the way he was to be transported back to his room in such situations:

_"To The Iron Bull,_

_A little note for your kind consideration should there come a time when I have to be escorted back to my chambers._

_1\. “No” to being carried in your arms like a maiden. Too dramatic and, frankly, too embarrassing._

_2\. “No” to getting tossed over your shoulder like a sack of grains. Too uncomfortable and it makes me sick._

_3\. And for Maker’s sake, “no” to getting help from Krem or any of the Chargers. Or worse, the Inquisitor. I don’t fancy getting manhandled by too many men, thank you very much. At least not when I’m too drunk to enjoy myself._

_Yours in so many different positions,_

_Dorian"_

Failure to comply would result in very dire consequences. Dorian had refused to speak to Bull for a whole of ten minutes once. On the plus side, the make-up sex was good. _Very_ good, in fact. Dorian had Josephine replace the broken bed in the room above the tavern – and sheepishly slipped in an additional request to have the curtains replaced due to an… unfortunate incident.

“Alright, c’mon you crazy mage. Let’s get you out of here before you hurt yourself,” Bull sighed, just after Dorian had spent almost thirty minutes attempting to climb his back - every now and again sliding down with an inebriated “ _weeeeeee_ ” while the Inquisitor guffawed. 

“Best put him to bed, Bull,” Adaar said, raising his mug of ale and winked.

“Seriously, why would he even try to outdrink two Qunaris? That’s crazy talk,” Bull grumbled, slowly getting up from his seat. He winced as he felt the twinge from an old wound in his left ankle. He had his foot smashed during his ten-year stint at Seheron, and his joint had never really recovered. 

“ _Weeeeeee_ ,” Dorian went, laughing as he slid down again. Bull shook his head before hoisting Dorian up on his back, slinging his arms behind the mage’s knees while the mage wrapped his arms around Bull’s neck.

“Alright, alright,” he grunted, “Shit, you get heavier every time, I swear.”

“Lies!” came the indignant cry before Bull felt the small sting of electricity in his side. Dorian had zapped him with magic.

“Okay, okay we’re going,” Bull muttered, saying his goodbyes to a highly amused Adaar before slowly making his way up the stairs.

“Gee up,” Dorian cried, jerking his hips once in encouragement and made clicking sounds with his tongue.

“You keep talking like that, I’m gonna leave you right here on the floor till morning,” Bull warned, bouncing Dorian once or twice on his back to reposition him properly before he slipped and fell. His collar jingled.

“Mean,” he slurred and zapped Bull again before promptly falling asleep, snoring into Bull’s ear.

 _Peace at last._

They made their way slowly but surely up to the bedroom without further incident. Bull had said his goodnight to Cole who was, as usual, skulking in the shadows, and made the final steps towards the door to Bull's room. 

Dorian muttered in his sleep as Bull jostled him around a little while he struggled with the door knob – something about a lummox, brutes and bendy bananas. 

_Weird._

The room was pleasantly warm when they finally stepped in. The flames crackling in the fireplace made shadows writhe and dance on the walls. Bull had left the fire going before going down to the tavern to drink, just in case Dorian needed a place to sleep instead of making the trip to his own room some distance away. The man hated the cold with the burning passion of a thousand suns.

Grunting a little, he allowed Dorian to slide off his back, dumping him unceremoniously onto the bed before covering him with a blanket. He grinned, looking down fondly upon the mage when Dorian grumbled in his sleep and curled up into an angry ball. Bull straightened to stretch his back, sighing in contentment when his joints snapped and crackled at all the right places. 

Then he got to work, gently undressing a still grumpy Dorian down to his small clothes -

_How the fuck can someone stay mad while sleeping?_

\- before focusing on the task of unbuckling his harness and removing his ankle brace. 

He sat on the edge of the bed, briskly rubbing the sore muscles on his left leg.

“Ankle hurting again?”

Bull turned to see Dorian gazing at him from under his blanket, eyes still blurry from sleep, the hairs on his head raised like the back of a disgruntled cat. 

“I never could understand how you recover so quickly from a drunken stupor.”

Dorian shrugged, crawling towards Bull. The bell around his neck glinted gold for a second, reflecting fire as he rolled out of bed, settling himself by Bull’s feet. He grabbed Bull’s pants, spread it across the floor and sat cross-legged on it like he was sitting on a carpet. 

_Of course. Cold floor, and the man decided to use my pants as his butt rug._

“Well, mages drink liquid metal – which is, essentially, what our lyrium potions are made of,” he said, gently taking hold of Bull’s foot and placing it on his lap. “Our bodies process things differently from you… common folks.”

Bull snorted, and watched with interest as Dorian used his fingers to press down hard on several points around Bull’s ankle.

“Relax,” Dorian said, furrowed his brow and took a breath before gently discharging electrical pulses into Bull’s foot.

It felt… well, it felt _weird_. But it was a good kind of weird. The muscles around Bull’s sore ankle jumped, twitched and vibrated with each pulse. It felt like a massage, but from the _inside_. Bull’s toes twitched and wriggled on its own volition, like a fish out of water.

_Yep. Shit’s weird._

Slowly, the tightness went away, and when Bull could flex his foot without much discomfort, Dorian replaced electrical pulses with warmth – hands glowing red in the semi-darkness of their room.

“Wow, it _does_ feel better,” Bull said, flexing and rotating his ankle.

“Helps relax the muscles,” Dorian explained, now running his fingers firmly along Bull’s shin and calves.

There was a short silence before Dorian spoke again.

“So when are you heading out to the Arbor Wilds with the Inquisitor?”

Bull gave a pause.

“How did you know about that? I’ve only gotten the news from the boss today.”

Dorian gave Bull a hard look.

“Never mind about that. I do hope you’re not thinking about going there alone. I’m coming with you.”

Bull scratched at the base of his horns.

“It’s not really my call, you know. We have two melee fighters now; the boss and I. He’d want two more ranged fighters to help out at from the back ranks. He _might_ ask you along.”

Dorian released Bull’s foot and got unsteadily to his feet, the bell around his neck tinkling. 

“Well, he’d better. Bringing you along, and leaving _me_ behind in Skyhold? That’s just not acceptable.” 

“I’ll have a word with him, if you like,” Bull said, grinning as Dorian pushed him back onto the bed and straddled him.

“Yes, I do,” Dorian said, glowering down at Bull, planting his palms by the side of the Qunari’s head. “ _Someone_ has got to stick around to make sure _you_ don’t die.”

Bull chuckled.

“You going soft on me, _kadan_?”

“On the contrary, _amatus_ ,” Dorian retorted, pretending to look insulted. His voice had dropped into a husky whisper, and a hand slithered down between their bodies. He took Bull’s palm and pressed it against the tent in his smalls.

“I think you will find that I can be a little... _hard_ on you.” 

They exchanged a slow, conspiratorial smile. 

“Ring my bell?”

And so the Bull did. 

Many, many times.

**Author's Note:**

> Attention! :) I'm looking for prompts from Adoribull readers. If there is anything you'd like me to write, do let me know in the comments. I write exclusively Dorian / Bull for now.
> 
> Nessa’s pseudo-intellectual vomit:
> 
> 1) Lyrium Consumption vs Alcoholic Consumption: I’ve always thought Dorian would most likely be able to handle quite a significant amount of booze considering mages have very high tolerance to liquefied lyrium – a highly toxic metal in its raw form, according to dwarven research. What could have killed the average person like Cullen in the long run actually made people like Dorian more powerful without encountering prolonged side effects. So, perhaps it'll take a lot more alcohol than the average man to knock Dorian out completely.
> 
> 2) Electric Acupuncture: 
> 
> Electric acupuncture is a process when the doctor applies needles to several pressure points on the body (no, it doesn’t hurt) and sends through gentle, pulsating charges. It really does feel like a massage from the inside. That's the therapy I went through at a Chinese Medical Centre when I was recovering from ripping several tendons around my ankle after an accident. (Couldn't even go down the stairs, yo!)
> 
> Long story short, the therapy allowed the stiff muscles and scarred tissues around my ankle to relax around the joint, and while the joint itself is still a little wobbly and may be in constant danger of giving way when walking on uneven terrain, I can rotate / flex my foot comfortably without pain.


End file.
